Moda Living and Apache Capital Partners have agreed an £85m development loan with a German bank to fund construction of the long-awaited Angel Gardens at Manchester’s NOMA.

The senior debt facility with Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, which specialises in property and public sector funding, will see the delivery of Angel Gardens. The facility has a four-year term to finance construction and will automatically convert into an investment loan for the remainder of the term.

Plans for the 34-storey residential scheme at Angel Street and Miller Street were approved by Manchester City Council in March 2015, and preparatory works began on site before Christmas.

The project represents the first residential element to be brought forward within the 20-acre NOMA masterplan, overseen by the Co-op and Hermes.

Moda is a partnership between Yorkshire-based Caddick Construction and Generate Land.

The architects on Angel Gardens are HAUS Collective and Fuse Studios, with landscape architecture by Planit-IE. Planning advice is from Deloitte Real Estate.

Moda is touting Angel Gardens as “one of the biggest and highest specification rental developments delivered anywhere in Britain”. The company recently announced a £115m redevelopment of the former Strathclyde Police headquarters in Glasgow, and last year secured planning consent for The Lexington, its 304-apartment scheme in Princes Dock, Liverpool.

Practical completion of Angel Gardens will be in two phases between 2019 and 2020. Carillion has been appointed the main contractor.

Tony Brooks, co-managing director at Moda Living, said: “The potential for institutional investment to help regenerate cities across the North is clear. Taking a long-term approach to housing, where we not just deliver it but operate the buildings, means that renters and local authorities can have the confidence in create genuinely cohesive communities. Build to rent will become a vital part of attracting talented workers to our cities and of capturing some of the £50bn of global investment chasing this emerging sector.”